Matkráin — Restaurant in Hveragerðisbær

A fantastic choice for lunch or dinner.

We stayed at the Matkrain Apartments just above the restaurant. We stayed for brunch brekkie/lunch before continuing our long adventurous drive as we had admittedly caused some mishaps for the manager the night before and he was such a nice fellow.

The food was well above our expectations. The thing I neglected to mention to the staff, was that I usually do not enjoy seafood (fish in particular - I tend to avoid) my partner on the other hand, loves all seafood.

We had a recommendation of Icelandic dill schnapps to pair with our picked herring entree as well as a delicious seafood langouistine soup.

The manager knowing us as tourists was very careful to describe their lobster soup as a seafood soup, which came with plentiful pieces of delicious fish and scampi (their lobster, or local langoustine). It was warm, hearty and had a hint of tomatoes and curry which sparked the palate and had me devouring my soup with gusto. Which set upon my fish eating adventure across Iceland.

Admittedly, I did have a sample of each flavour of pickled herring that my partner had, who enjoyed every bite. To my surprise, they were sweet, tart and zingy, they were good enough that I could enjoy each quite thoroughly. (I usually would avoid canned Tuna, salmon or any sardines, anchovies, the standard preserved fish or fresh fish varieties) Therefore, this was a surprising moment for me when I found them tasty.

Both myself and my partner would recommend this restaurant to anyone passing by who would like to try or enjoy...

Get a authentic taste of Iceland after hiking Reykjadalur with openface salmon sandwiches and other savory choices. All the food is very fresh and well made. The pastrami and au jus is the perfect pair. The salmon is tender and very smoky as if they just smoked it out back. The restaurant itself is small and quiet. Staff is bilingual and friendly. Food comes quickly. Dessert was limited (it’s a very popular menu) and was delicious. French chocolate cake was just enough sweet with whipped milk crème (very little sugar it. Good pair. ) is a wonderful after dinner treat. Lemon tart was also portioned well and satisfying

I highly recommend this for dates or get together with friend and family especially after the...

Summer 2022 Update! Another top notch recent visit to this restaurant ... that always lives up to my expectations! Definitely a real gem and on my favorite top restaurant list for Iceland ... especially for their outstanding open sandwiches & many delicious daily specials! 😋😍😋 I really enjoyed my open roastbeef sandwich at this restaurant in Hverageði. Returning from a memorable road trip in southern Iceland with friends ... it was the perfect location to enjoy a light meal on our way back to Reykjavik.

The restaurant offers daily specials and many other choices for all tastes. Their service was very friendly and we really loved sitting outside on their veranda on a sunny & warm summer...